Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
06:00, Barta’a
An endless line of workers is exiting the “sleeve.” Some of them look for their transportation and some sit and wait. In answer to my question, one of the workers reported that it took him half an hour, from the time he got into line at the entrance to the installation until he could leave. We go down to the entrance on the Palestinian side. There are many cars in the parking lot and more than 50 trucks and vans loaded and well-packed, wait to enter the vehicle inspection.
The line is very orderly; people report that they wait in line about 10 minutes. When the turnstile is opened, about 45 people pass through. A., the devoted steward, passes two trays of baklawa around to those who wait in line and also to us, in celebration of the birth of his grandson. While he speaks with us, young men try to push their way into line and immediately a fierce argument breaks out, accompanied by pushing and yelling. A. controls the incident and the line becomes organized again.
We select a young man who gets in line and go back to the exit. The young man arrives at the entrance in about 5 minutes, with us. Hori reports to us that the Palestinian coffee vendors are being harassed all the time and having new restrictions imposed on him on different pretexts.
06:45, Tura-Shaked
The checkpoint now opens at 06:30. The deputy-head of the council of Umm-Reihan comes every morning from the village to the checkpoint, bringing with him two students, and waits to transport teachers who pass through the checkpoint from the side of the Palestinian Authority. He tells us that they arrived at an arrangement with the Coordination Office, that they would open the checkpoint at 06:30, to let the workers go through first, so that at 07:00, when the students and the teachers arrive, there would be less pressure. Today there are exams and therefore the schools are closed. We see only a few young girls who pass through the checkpoint.
The workers complain that on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday the checkpoint only opens at 07:00 and that makes it difficult for them to get to work.
There is no line next to the turnstile. Several cars passed from the Palestinian side to the seamline zone side. One car is inspected thoroughly because it contained work tools, but it passed without any problems.
At 07:00 there are still people who are waiting for transportation to their workplace. They say that today the checkpoint is good . . . .
Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
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This checkpoint is located on the Separation Fence route, east of the Palestinian town of East Barta’a. The latter is the largest Palestinian community inside the seam-line zone (Barta’a Enclave) in the northern West Bank. Western Barta’a, inside Israel, is adjacent to it. The Checkpoint is open all week from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Since mid-May 2007, the checkpoint has been managed by a civilian security company subordinate to the Ministry of Defense. People permitted to cross through this checkpoint into and from the West Bank are residents of Palestinian communities inside the Barta’a Enclave as well as West Bank Palestinian residents holding transit permit. Jewish settlers from Hermesh and Mevo Dotan cross here without inspection. A large, modern terminal is active here with 8 windows for document inspection and biometric tests (eyes and fingerprints). Usually only one or two of the 8 windows are in operation. Goods, up to medium commercial size, may pass here from the West Bank into the Barta’a Enclave. A permanent registered group of drives who have been approved by the may pass with farm produce. When the administration of the checkpoint was turned over to a civilian security firm, the Ya’abad-Mevo Dotan Junction became a permanent checkpoint. . It is manned by soldiers who sit in the watchtower and come down at random to inspect vehicles and passengers (February 2020).
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Tura-Shaked
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Tura-Shaked
This is a fabric of life* checkpoint through which pedestrians, cabs and private cars (since 2008) pass to and from the West Bank and the Seam-line Zone to and from the industrical zone near the settler-colony Shaked, schools and kindergartens, and Jenin university campuses. The checkpoint is located between Tura village inside the West Bank and the village of Dahar Al Malah inside the enclave of the Seam-line Zone. It is opened twice a day, between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., and from 12 noon to 7 p.m. People crossing it (at times even kindergarten children) are inspected in a bungalow with a magnometer. Names of those allowed to cross it appear in a list held by the soldiers. Usually traffic here is scant.
- fabric of life roads and checkpoints, as defined by the Terminals Authority in the Ministry of Defense (fabric of life is a laundered name that does not actually describe any kind of humanitarian purpose) are intended for Palestinians only. These roads and checkpoints have been built on lands appropriated from their Palestinian owners, including tunnels, bypass roads, and tracks passing under bridges. Thus traffic can flow between the West Bank and its separated parts that are not in any kind of territorial contiguity with it. Mostly there are no permanent checkpoint on these roads but rather ‘flying’ checkpoints, check-posts or surprise barriers. At Toura, a small (less than one dunam) and sleepy checkpoint has been established, which has filled up with the years with nearly .every means of supervision and surveillance that the Israeli military occupation has produced. (February 2020)
Mar-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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